


The Green Dress

by Xilianr



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin) Swears, Light Angst, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 09:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14615853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xilianr/pseuds/Xilianr
Summary: To anyone the that feels uncomfortable with the color of dress I have dictated for this story, I’m sorry. I am sorry anyone ever convinced you that your beauty was so subjective it was contingent on a dress color. The dress is green. Levi is right, you are fucking beautiful in it. Deal with it.I got triggered a few days ago and this is my working through it. Writing is my self-healing. Turned out not awful and I thought I would share it, that maybe someone else needed to hear it too. Potentially feels triggering.





	The Green Dress

**Author's Note:**

> Correct, this story is not actually about the dress. Levi is the point of this story. Enjoy.

Levi looked at her and felt only discomfort.

The party was a clamor of revelry. The mixer was being held at an outdoor bistro. Despite the late hour it would be bright and airy feeling for hours yet. A lovely venue for everyone to enjoy. (F/N), however, would not be enjoying herself. All because of her dress.

The dress she wore was beautiful. The cut perfectly appropriate to the event. Not too revealing, not overly covering. The dress fit her form perfectly, sculpting her in deep foresty hues of emerald and jade. The dress was a verdant glory of vibrant greens. She was breathtakingly, stunningly, simply... beautiful.

But it was wrong.

Every other woman was in a cheery cream sundresses. The only uniqueness was in the daisies or bluebells. Some roses or ivy playing at diversity. The men were no better. They all had on boring gray suits, ties being the only item to sometimes apply color. The party was homogeneous in the attire of everyone aside from (F/N) in the green dress.

This included Levi. Much as he now wished he was sporting his steel blue suit that made his eyes a more complex spill of silver and sapphire, he was in generic gray. His own eyes losing their blue enhancing tones, leaving them a dull gray.

He had no idea what to do. He wanted nothing more than to tell her how lovely she looked today but it felt... uncomfortable. How could _he_ not sound patronizing with a complement? His sincerity was treated as suspect in all things aside from irritation. He was certain his best intention would only sound like an insult to her. So he stayed silent. Hoping, wishing, someone with the right skill in words would say what he could not.

“God, if I came to a party dressed like that I’d go home to change. Hell, I’d go buy a new dress and change in the shop!” A woman in a daffodil laced dress stated. Levi bristled. That woman could end up wearing her drink if she did not shut up. Let her ‘go home and change’. (F/N) was lovely in the green dress.

“Ha! I’d just leave! Never come back. How awful she must feel.” The woman with a pattern of tiny violets chuckled.

Levi turned an icy glare to them. He most certainly did not want her to leave, never to come back. She had every right to stay and enjoy the festivities. The green dress was irrelevant to them since their dress choices were just as everyone else. Daffodils and violets on cream, respectfully normal. Levi clacked his tongue in disgust. Why act like she had done something to them just because of the green dress.

A kindly woman walked over to the woman in the green dress and smiled. A bright smile, welcoming and a little sympathetic. Levi hoped this woman had the words, knew what to say to make the green dress acceptable enough for him to comment on. He desperately wanted to let her know what he thought.

“Your hair is so wonderful today. I really love how you styled it.” The kind woman said to the woman in the green dress.

Levi waited. Eagerly he tensed to join the conversation on how lovely she was in her green dress. Nothing was added. The sincere compliment ignored the dress entirely. Both women looked down at the the green on green tones and stood awkwardly. Levi looked away dejectedly. Shit. No one else seemed to know what to say any better than him.

“Thank you. It was thoughtful of you to tell me.” She smiled brightly. “Well, I hope you enjoy the party!” She sounded happy despite the smile not masking the sadness in her eyes.

Levi watched more wasted attempts at including her, but she always ended up just a little outside the conversation. She smiled, tried her damnedest to keep everyone feeling alright about the situation. There was no smile wide enough to hide the green dress. It was seeming hopeless. Levi finally hit his boiling point. He walked over to her.

“You look lovely tonight (F/N).” Levi got out. The blush of his embarrassment was mirrored in her blooming coyness. He swallowed and said what he hoped would be heard as he intended, not as how everyone else had spoken. “That dress is especially fetching on you. Like you are covered in gem stones.”

Levi had stopped looking at her face. He was speaking to the air slightly to her right of her head. Fuck, was that ever not what he meant. It was not the dress. She was beautiful. The dress was gorgeous. However, she was not beautiful just because of the dress. She was not ‘prettier’ just because of her green dress or despite it. She was just beautiful.

“Thanks Levi. I appreciate your trying.” She smiled. He had failed to make it reach her eyes as well. He at least had been able to get a genuine response. It was a stinging sort of thing, failing to make someone he cared about feel better.

Levi nodded. He took in a breath and mentally kicked himself for not being better at connecting with people. He wanted her to know what he saw, understand his point. He wanted her to have a good time like everyone else. He started to walk away. Maybe someone else would have better success.

“Hey Levi?”

He turned and looked at her. He hoped his deep affection for her was still evident even behind his bored expression. “Yes?”

“Do you... um...” She was stumbling over her words. Her posture gave away her sense of awkwardness.

“Spit it out brat.” Levi’s bland drawl did not match his racing heart. What was so wrong with him that he could not manage a polite interaction even with her?

“You look nice tonight.” Her words raced out.

“Thanks. I appreciate your trying.” Levi mentally facepalmed over the words exiting his idiot mouth. Sure he would have looked better in the other suit, but she was just trying to pay him a complement. He opened his mouth to apologize but stopped as he caught a hopeful gleam in her eyes.

“You really think I look nice tonight, Levi?” There was a disbelief in her tone that Levi hated. He hoped that fragile trust would not get damaged by his clumsiness with words.

“Of course. Do I normally pay people false compliments?” He let his smirk peek out. He had no idea what he had said to make her hear his intent in the earlier comment, but he hoped to not screw it up now.

“Even in this green dress?” She had doubt creeping back in.

“You aren’t your dress. It’s a lovely dress on you. Fuck anyone that can’t be happy about that. But you are beaut-“

“Shut up.” She interrupted. “You can’t seriously expect my ‘being beautiful in your eyes’ to make this dress acceptable to wear to-“

“Are you seriously telling me off for saying you are beautiful?!” Levi was not just confused, he was angry.

“Saying it like it validates my existence? Yes. I am mad at you for saying I’m beautiful.” Her anger was even more scorning than he could contend with.

Levi just looked at her. Slack jawed and frustratingly dumbfounded, he was opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. Every word died on his tongue before reaching his lips. He could only wonder what he could even say. What was so wrong in even his words as to not let her enjoy the party with everyone else?

That was when he heard his and everyone else's misstep. She was not the green dress. Every moment anyone had ever called her beautiful had been because of or despite some arbitrary factor. She was standing here in front of him a beautiful, smart, funny woman in a green dress. And that woman believed to her vary core that she did not belong, both because of and despite herself. No one had told her. No one had told her, even once, he suspected.

“You...” Levi swallowed hard, bracing for what could be a very strong reaction. He looked into her eyes and held her gaze with every ounce of truth he understood of the world. “You belong here.”

He waited. Let his words sink in. When she opened her mouth to speak, he continued.

“I am not what makes that true. It is not because of your dress, or despite how beautiful you are.” He snarled out the words he suspected she heard even when others spoke the reverse. “You belong here because YOU BELONG HERE.” He was so fucking pissed anyone ever made her think otherwise. He was pissed HE had made her feel otherwise.

“Levi?” She looked raw. Her eyes were watering as the adamance of his words fought with every person that ever spoke before this.

“You. Belong. Here.” He was quietly roaring it for her very soul. He needed her to hear, to know the thing he had believed all along. He knew. He understood. She belonged. Just as her smarts were not contingent on her dress or her being funny requiring her beauty, she simply belonged.

“Levi. Thank you.”

 

 

 

 

_You, my dearest Readers, belong._

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this and you think you know what I am writing about you are correct. I was writing about that. I was also not writing about that. Just like I did not make a single statement of Reader's description, I left of every descriptive of what the dress symbolizes. Yes there was a specific thing that started my writing but (hopefully) that was not the singular way to make this story relevant. This is not intended as rally call to oppress differences. The opposite in fact. I am saying EVERY subjective story is worth telling.
> 
> Thank you for reading. Hopefully I did not step too hard on anyone's feelings.


End file.
